Potty Training with the Paddocks- Day One!

Well, we survived our first day of potty training! I love how that sounds like some kind of doggy boot camp... you "train" a dog, but it sounds a little weird to talk about your own kids that way! Anyways, the boys have seemed ready for awhile. Most mornings they wake up dry and we've had to put them directly on the potty before they go or else they'd flood their diapers and soak everything in a 3 foot radius, which, for the record, is not the best way to start the morning.

But despite their obvious readiness, I've been too scared to take the plunge. It's not the potty training part that troubles me. Our entire house is hardwood floors... every inch has been peed on at least once, if not 10 times, already. Nothing a towel can't handle. But it's the few months AFTER they are potty trained that scare the bejeezus out of me! You know, the time when they are technically potty trained but you have T minus 10 seconds to get them to a toilet when they say they have to go, meaning that you have to be within 20 feet from a toilet at all times! If we had just one kid, I think I could conquer this fear. But its two that really scares me. I can just picture it... We're in the back corner of Target buying ant traps when Caleb says he's gotta pee. So if by the grace of God I can scoop up two kids and a cart and get us all to the front of the store in time, I'm stuck with one kid on the toilet and another running wild and free in a public bathroom stall. I can just see him licking the walls before ducking under the partition and surprising some old lady with her pants down. The germ factor alone is enough to make me faint, never mind the thought of one of my children running loose in a Target store while I chase him carrying my other child half-naked under my arm! YIKES!

Anyways. Jon is home from school this week and we figured that we'd better take advantage of the man to man defense and get this show on the road. We took the boys to the store to let them pick out their own underwear and the next morning we went sans diapers... the last reminder I had of my babies being babies. Seriously, this is going to be more traumatic for me than for them! The stats of our first full day weren't so bad. Caleb had four accidents (two of each, fun!) but Matthew only had one pee-pee accident in the evening. For our first day, we can't complain too much... only one load of laundry to do and we still have over half of our towels still folded in the hall closet, waiting to be called to duty! I'm sure they'll get that call tomorrow!